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Beckham's card marked by referee Merk

The referee who takes charge of tonights game has a history with the England captain dating back to his Manchester United days. By Jonathan Northcroft

June 13 2004, 1:00am, The Sunday Times

In contrast, Beckham’s stomach is likely to have churned. Merk was the referee at Old Trafford in 2002 when Aldo Duscher of Deportivo La Coruña broke Beckham’s foot, threatening his World Cup participation, in a Champions League quarter-final. Duscher’s tackle had been late, and with both feet, yet somehow Merk decided against sending the Argentinian off — though Duscher did receive a red card later in the game for a second bookable offence.

Merk said: “There are three extraordinary games in the first round. Germany versus the Netherlands I couldn’t do obviously and nor could I do the opening game because I refereed that at Euro 2000. So for me there is no bigger game than this. Many people ask, ‘How can you deal with…